A/N: Hello, here I am again, somewhat hyper but more calm than usual. ANYWAY, here's the next installment of the Mask of Remembrance series, here for your enjoyment and satisfaction! (God, I sound like a commercial announcer!) Please r/r, and don't flame me please. I prefer constructive criticism. Happy reading! Oh, a side note: I know absolutely nothing about Hawaii except it's USUALLY hot, so people who live there, don't hurt me!
THE MASK OF REMEMBRANCE, PART
3
Sassy kicked the carpet of the den.
"Bored, bored, bored. Bored. So bored, bored,
bored."
"Then why don't you do something, like see one of your
friends, dear?" her mother called from the kitchen. Sassy suddenly was struck
by an idea.
"Mom!" she hollered. Her mother's round, always-anxious
face appeared at the door.
"Yes, dear? What is it?"
"When's Christmas vacation at Hogwarts?"
* * *
Birch read the letter and screeched, attracting much
attention from the other tables. Bridget, hands on ears, cringed and asked,
"Interesting news?"
"Um, guys," Birch said, trying not to be distracted from
the pale, watery gaze of Peter Pettigrew next to James and not succeeding. He
was a plump, nervous boy who was always hanging around with them, and he had a
knack at staring at people and making them rather nervous themselves. "You see,
Christmas vacation is in what – a week?"
"Yes, why?" Colleen asked, sipping grapefruit juice.
"Well, I'll be going to Hawaii, and, um… well…Sassy
talked to my dad, and my dad said you guys could all come." Sirius spit out his
orange juice, covering Birch's white shirt. "Oh, thanks, Sirius, real
resourceful." She added, glaring at him as he grinned.
"Any time. I'm in!" he shouted, again drawing the
attention of the Great Hall to the most troublesome group at the Gryffindor
table. He grinned innocently at Professor McGonagall, who was eyeing him rather
suspiciously, and turned back to his friends.
"Same." Lily and James said at the same time.
"I'm visiting my parents, I'm not able to, sorry." Peter
said in his quavering whisper. Colleen shrugged.
"I'll have to check."
"And yes, I am going to freak out that 'Sassy' friend of
yours and try to digest trump too, Birch!" Bridget said, grinning.
"It's tripe, Bridget." Birch said, head in hands.
"Excuse me, Botsford, O'Henry, Weasley, Evans, Potter,
Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, would you mind not making large scenes at
breakfast time? I'll take five points from Gryffindor for your behavior. Come
now, off to classes!" McGonagall said, hands on hips and lips pursed in
disapproval.
"Ay aye, Madame!" Sirius said, and dodged out under her
disapproving glare.
* * *
"There
they are!" Amy squealed, peering over the large man in front of her with a
boost from Jessie. They (not very politely, but the Pack was never polite about
most things) jostled everyone away and ran forward to greet one of the members
of their group and her friends.
Sassy
plunged forward; black corn rowed braids flying, she hugged Birch extremely
hard. Despite the fact that Sassy was very strong and was also reputed for
breaking bones while wrestling (on other people, that is) Birch just laughed
and hugged back. Jessie yelled, "Group hug!" and Nicola, Amy, Ali, and herself
threw themselves on Birch.
"Boy,
she must have strong bones!" Sirius muttered to James, who just grinned and
nodded.
When
Birch finally emerged, she was taking deep breaths but grinning broadly.
"I've
missed you guys so much!" she exclaimed, then remembering her English friends.
"These are my friends from the school I go to, James, Sirius, Bridget, Remus,
and last but not least, my cousin Lily. My friend Colleen couldn't come, so…
um… er… welcome to Hawaii, English peoples, and, um… where're Dad and Oak?"
Sassy gestured behind her with one dark hand, where Quinton and Maggie, Sassy's
mother, were rushing forward. Oak was behind them, leisurely stuffing his face
with a bag of chips.
"Birch!"
Quinton said, hugging his daughter happily. He looked at he apparel, T-shirt,
cut jeans, cotton jacket, and all, and frowned. "On who's credit card have you
been shopping, young lady?" Maggie conveniently stepped in, gave Birch a hug,
and diverted Quinton from his slightly angry gaze by greeting the guests. He
followed Maggie's suit, blushing slightly as his hand brushed Maggie's, and
greeted them all in turn.
"We-ell,
we'd better get back home." Maggie said, grabbing three of the trunks and
pulling them up. Sassy, Amy, and Ali grabbed all the others, the biggest and
strongest of all of them by far, and they all walked out of the airport, Sirius
chatting very animatedly with Nicola while Bridget watched sullenly. Jessie
tagged along with Birch, the two of them chatting (about boys, Jessie's main
topic of discussion) while Quinton conversed politely with Lily and James.
The
van was completely full, double buckling and all. Sassy and Birch paired up,
Nicola and Jessie, Ami and Ali, Sirius and Remus (Sirius winking at a
halfhearted James, who was staring at Lily with an odd expression on his face)
and, of course, Lily and James. Maggie turned around as they muttered things to
each other, throwing dirty looks, and gave a large, very conspicuous wink,
which caused James and Lily to stop their incessant arguing and both turn a
rosy shade of pink.
When
they finally reached home, the bright pinks, yellows, blues, and some
occasional greens greeted them, each house a medium size. The van pulled into a
pink house's driveway. As soon as they got out, three enormous sheep dogs
("Must be hot in the summer!" Sirius whispered to Remus) bounded towards them
and ended up licking each face for about ten seconds until Maggie, laughing,
called them into the house.
"What
are those things, your dishwashers after you eat that trump stuff?"
Bridget asked, wiping slobber off her face and grimacing. Birch rolled her
eyes.
"For the last time, it's tripe, not trump. They're called 'pets', and they just are very… affectionate to people in their family or their family's friends."
"You
mean I have to go through that again?" Sirius asked, listening in.
Nicola grinned at him.
"Don't
worry, there're plenty of bathrooms in the house." Sirius grinned back and they
walked in. Bridget scowled at their backs.
"You
know, I don't really like this Nicola." She said, pursing her lips and sullenly
kicking a rock with her shoe.
"And
why might this be? She's a great friend, smart, athletic, pretty… are
you sure there isn't any other reason?" Birch asked, winking and picking
up her trunk from the back. Bridget stuck out her tongue and followed her
inside.
After
several arguments and debates, the English crew and Birch were to stay at
Quinton's house, while everyone else went to theirs. Birch's house proved to be
rather large and modern, with high ceilings and many nooks and crannies that
they had to explore. There were two secret passageways, six trapdoors, and
many, many hidden areas – the architect had also created difficult puzzles in
the meantime. As they sat in the den, flipping through channels on the
television (Sirius, James, and Bridget were fascinated), Birch suddenly leapt
up and said,
"I
can't take this. We've only been here two days, and already we haven't gone to
the beach. Put on your suits and let's go!" She ran upstairs, and the rest
looked at each other, shrugged, and followed. Only Lily thought to turn off the
television screen.
When
they finally were changed, Birch had assembled the strangest looking devices
most of them had ever seen.
"What
on earth is this?" Remus asked, picking up a tube and mask. All but Lily looked
extremely confused.
"Don't
tell me none of you have never snorkeled before?" Birch asked in
disbelief. Seeing the blank looks on their faces, she sighed. "This will be
hard. When you go snorkeling, you put these – they're called 'goggles' – over
your face and attach this tube – it's called a snorkel – to the goggles and put
the end in your mouth. Then, you can look at all sorts of sea life under the
water. It's really fun, actually, but I personally think water-skiing and
tubing is superior… oh no, not again!" she said in distress as the blank
looks crossed their faces.
Twenty
minutes later, Birch had explained everything she knew about the ocean and the
activities to do there. Finally they spotted Maggie's motorboat with Jessie
water-skiing happily, and they all dived in. Only after they had all gotten
into the water did Birch yell,
"Oh,
by the way! Watch out for sharks!"
The
Hawaiian people had never heard so much screaming.
* * *
A/N: I know that was short! I
know I have writer's block! I know, I know, I know! I'm just trying to write
more chapters to my little collection… sigh. Anyway, r/r – I suppose you can
flame, since it was a horrible chapter… I feel very ashamed of myself. I'll do
better next time, but I need ideas… again, the little review box…
Disclaimer (I HATE these
things!): Everybody except Birch, Colleen, Bridget, Quinton, Hawaiian people,
and Peter's messed up gaze *sounds are heard in background that sounds like
someone pounding an anvil over something's head* belong to the Book Goddess,
J.K. Rowling.